The UT Administration has decided to award a compensation of more than Rs 1 crore per acre for the land it will acquire in Hallomajra. An official announcement on this will be made shortly.

The compensation will be one of the highest the Administration has ever paid to acquire land. The five-acre land in question is situated in ‘N’ area, which is occupied by security forces.

The owners of the land had long wanted it to be taken over, as it was of no use to them—it is surrounded by Army land, and will be acquired by the Army.

An official said they were awaiting payment from the Army authorities after which the compensation would be announced. Rs 1 crore is the baseline amount to which around 40 per cent solatium would be added. The landowners had filed a case on this, following which the court issued directions for the acquisition of this land.

The Land Acquisition Officer recently announced a compensation of Rs 87 lakh per acre for around 50 acres of land acquired for the Modern Terminal Market.

The Administration faced flak from social activists for the low compensation. The lanowners were being paid Rs 25 to 30 lakh per acre. In contrast, Punjab and Haryana were giving between Rs 1 and 2 crore.

The farmers had also accused the Administration of selling the land to builders at high rates after acquiring it from them at low rates.

For the third phase of the Rajiv Gandhi Chandigarh Technology Park, the compensation announced in February this year was Rs 18 lakh per acre.